| The Rock-afire Explosion | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Birth Place: | Orlando, Florida |
| Origin: | Orlando, Florida, United States |
| Years Active: | 1980–present |
| Spinoffs: | New Rock-Afire Explosion |
| Website: | engineeringcreative.com |
The Rock-afire Explosion (RAE) is an animatronic character band designed and manufactured by Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) for use in ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurants in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band's characters were various anthropomorphized animals, including a brown bear, a grey wolf and a silverback gorilla.[1] They performed medleys of classic rock, pop, and country music, as well as original compositions and comedic skits.[2]
CEI was founded by inventor Aaron Fechter, who oversaw production of the animatronics and provided several of the characters' voices. Starting in 1989, the band was replaced by Chuck E. Cheese characters and renamed Munch's Make Believe Band following ShowBiz Pizza's decision to rebrand in the early 1990s.[3] As relations with ShowBiz deteriorated, CEI began selling The Rock-afire Explosion to other restaurants and entertainment centers around the world, including Circus Pizza, Pistol Pete's Pizza, and Billy Bob's Wonderland.
The show was considered pioneering in the animatronic industry, featuring life-sized characters that were capable of advanced movement and facial expression. At the end of the show's tenure, former Chuck E. Cheese marketing director Jul Kamen credited Rock-afire with being largely responsible for ShowBiz’s early financial success.[4]
Production of the show's programming and audio was done in-house by Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) in Orlando, Florida. Nearly all Rock-afire shows were produced completely in-house, with CEI employees writing and performing songs and comedic skits. When ShowBiz began assuming control over programming, they used Songcode, a system inherited from their acquisition of Chuck E. Cheese (CEC).
Unlike other animatronic shows of the early 1980s, The Rock-afire Explosion (RAE) was life-sized, with most of the performers about the size of an average adult human. Fechter also implemented latex masks for the characters' faces, as opposed to the rubber and Styrofoam masks common in other animatronics. The latex masks fit over movable parts on the characters' faces, permitting a range of facial expressions, including smiling and the raising of eyebrows. Fechter also implemented computer programming that permitted some of the characters to move in rhythm with music.
The Rock-afire Explosion uses four recorded tracks, two for audio and two for data. The data tracks are encoded using Biphase mark code produced during the programming process by two Apple IIe computers. The circuitry of the RAE was originally purchased by CEI from Superscope, the makers of Pianocorder. As technology evolved and Showbiz became more involved in programming, they switched to a new programming system, APS (Animation Programming System), designed by Dave Philipsen, that replaced the aging Songcode inherited from CEC. Cyberstar, a new controller designed by Bill Synhorst of Triad Productions, was implemented to add video playback capability and direct communication with existing driver boards, eliminating the need for the Pianocorder playback board.
The show also consists of several smaller prop characters, many of which did not have speaking roles. These included an animated Sun and Moon that provided background vocals from time to time, a birthday spider called Antioch who spoke in gibberish, and a bear cub known as Choo-Choo, who hid in a small tree stump in front of Dook's drums and danced to the band's music. One of the more notable prop characters was Birthday Bird, who was perched on the neck of Billy Bob's guitar. Additionally, thirty stores were outfitted with "Uncle Klunk" (voice: Jeff Howell[16]), a proboscis monkey who replaced Rolfe and hosted talk-show segments with his bird sidekick, Click. The Klunk animatronics also served to be retrofitted into Santa Claus shows during the holidays.
ShowBiz Pizza Place was similar to (and competed with) Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, another animatronic restaurant chain that was popular in the United States. In the mid-1980s, both venues began to suffer financial difficulties, partially due to the video game crash of 1983 and also due to both companies having opened more restaurants than they could afford to maintain. When Pizza Time Theatre filed for bankruptcy in 1984, ShowBiz bought the company, hoping that new talent and merchandising opportunities could save both companies.[17]
By 1985, Richard M. Frank had joined the company as CEO and chairman. The corporation maintained the two restaurant chains simultaneously for several years. Each continued its own stage shows and sold different merchandise. However, in the latter part of the decade, relations between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz began to sour. Aaron Fechter, the founder of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rock-afire Explosion, claimed that the fallout between his company and ShowBiz arose when ShowBiz asked him to sign away the licensing and copyrights to the Rock-afire Explosion, which would have allowed ShowBiz to cut production costs on the show, such as manufacture of future shows and royalty payments to Creative Engineering. Fechter refused, on the grounds that ShowBiz offered no monetary compensation for the rights.[17]
ShowBiz began toying with the idea of adding licensed characters such as Spider-Man or Garfield to the Rock-afire show, and three ShowBiz locations actually replaced Billy Bob and Looney Bird with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo animatronics in 1987.[17] Ideas to retrofit the Rock-afire into completely original characters were also proposed at the time by Creative Presentations Inc, a now-defunct animatronic company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, that already provided ShowBiz with new showtapes and replacement cosmetics for Rock-afire shows.[18]
An experiment of Paul Linden and Dave Philipsen using JVC BR-7000 VHS Hi-Fi tape decks which integrated two stereo audio tracks, two longitudinal data tracks, and video led to a system in 1988 where television screens were installed above the Rock-afire stage as the company introduced their new Cyberstar TV screen system. During showtime, the characters were finally shown performing in video, as reel-to-reel formatted tapes began to be used less often. A reel-to-reel version of Cyberstar called "Cybervision" was tested at two restaurants in Austin, TX; Cybervision can be distinguished from Cyberstar by the fact that they only feature the animatronics, and no graphics or walkaround characters. Cyberstar was also implemented at Pizza Time Theatre, and remains in use at all Chuck E. Cheese's locations, albeit using DVDs rather than VHS tapes.
The changes to the Rock-afire stage were very minor, as the company later decided to enact a process called "Concept Unification," in which all ShowBiz Pizza locations would be remodeled into Chuck E. Cheese's. The remodel included the elimination of all Rock-afire characters from merchandise and advertising, and retrofitting/reprogramming the Rock-afire Explosion animatronics into a show called Munch's Make Believe Band, featuring the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre characters. Dook was moved to Billy Bob's place and became Pasqually P. Pieplate, Looney Bird became Pizzacam, Beach Bear became Jasper T. Jowls, Fatz became Mr. Munch, Mitzi was moved to Dook's place and became Helen Henny, The Sun became The Building, Choo-Choo became Munch Junior, and Rolfe became Chuck E. Cheese; The Moon was the only character carried over unchanged, and Antioch's computer and air lines were reused for The Wink, an animated Chuck E. Cheese head over the stage that would wink at the end of each segment. Unused animatronics (which included Billy Bob, Earl, and Antioch) and props were either sold off, used for parts or destroyed.[17]
After ties between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz were completely severed, "Concept Unification" began in November 1989 and occurred sporadically at ShowBiz locations until the final show was converted in late 1992 or Winter 1993. As Concept Unification began at each location, the right and center stages of the Rock-afire show were shut down, leaving only the Rolfe and Earl characters operational. The two performed "The Rolfe and Earle Show" (Earl's name was unintentionally misspelled), featuring the voices of Showbiz employees imitating Fechter's voice; the two ran a highlight reel of old Rock-afire Cyberstar segments and wondered aloud what the band would do now, and hinted at the coming Chuck E. Cheese-themed show. "The Rolfe and Earle Show" was the final Rock-afire show produced for Showbiz.[19]
As troubles began between CEI and Showbiz, the RAE was marketed to other restaurants and amusement parks around the world.[20] In the 1990s, an update to the band, known as "The New Rock-afire Explosion", was created, using new, smaller animatronics known as "mijjins", as well as other features such as revolving stages and dance choreography. However, relatively few customers purchased the show.[21]
Odyssey Fun World, an indoor amusement park located in Naperville, Illinois, and Tinley Park, Illinois, operated the New Rock-afire show in its restaurants.[22]
Fechter terminated all of his employees over several years, with the last 3 being terminated in 2003. In the mid 2000s, spurred by the growing online Rock-afire fan community, Fechter reunited some of the Rock-afire performers and began to program shows set to fan-requested songs. Videos of the performances—posted to his YouTube[23] upon completion—are credited with helping to further revive interest in the group and ShowBiz Pizza, and spurred individuals who owned their own Rock-afire bands to begin programming new shows themselves.
Aaron Fechter maintains his own Rock-afire show,[24] which has been used to program new shows and perform for private guests.[25] As of 2023, the show is temporarily defunct as Fechter is in the process of moving his collection to Palatka, Florida.[26]
Smitty's Super Service Station has a fully functional show in Sandy Hook, Mississippi.[27]
The Rock-afire Explosion show at Billy Bob's Wonderland in Barboursville, West Virginia, remains operational and was restored in 2021 after decades of disrepair.[28]
David Ferguson of Pendleton, Indiana, has a Rock-afire installed in his barn, dubbed "Goofy Gas Fillin' Station".[29]
John Zerwas purchased a Rock-afire Explosion from Chimpy's Pizza Safari, a restaurant, in 2005. His show is installed in his home in Minnesota.[30]
A private collector from Missouri named Mike has every Rock-afire animatronic, but no stage, running in his basement.[31]
Jack Turner, a close associate of Aaron Fechter and collector, has a fully operational Rock-afire show in his St. Joseph, Missouri warehouse.[32]
Although the Volo Auto Museum received a Rock-afire Explosion show slated for installation in 2020, there were licensing issues with Aaron Fechter preventing operation.[33] However, as of 2024, Volo Museum and Fechter came to an agreement and the show is now fully operational.[34]
The Rock-afire Explosion performed at Rock-afire, an arcade bar in Kansas City, Missouri.[35] However, the bar closed in February 2019.[36]
The Dreamfactory & World of Wonders in Degersheim, Switzerland has had a show since 1987, however it only became operational in 2021. This fully functional, newly restored show features a turntable that swaps between Rolfe's stage and Uncle Klunk. It can be visited during the museum's opening hours.[37] Wolmi Theme Park in Incheon, South Korea has a Rock-afire show in a restaurant in the park, playing four songs custom-made for the park by Aaron Fechter.[38]
The Hard Luck Bears Jamboree is a retrofitted Rock-afire Explosion show located in the Gulliver's World, Gulliver's Land, and Gulliver's Kingdom theme parks. All characters with the exception of Looney Bird and Earl are bears, but retain their original names. The show has been criticized for its programming, voice acting, and poor condition as a result of Gulliver's standards. [39] As of 2023, however, the shows are being restored and programmed to original Rock-afire showtapes.[40]
The Rock-afire Explosion, a documentary about Chris Thrash, Aaron Fechter and the remaining Rock-afire Explosion fan base, was released at film festivals and special screenings around the United States in the fall of 2008. It was released on DVD in 2009. In 2011, it was released on iTunes.[41]